Ghost of a Woman
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: The Mother Elf is a very beautiful program; formed from human consciousness and designed to end the Maverick Wars once and for all. Her ties to X, however, run far deeper than what anyone could expect. [AU][Spoiler-ish tie-in to Maverick]


_And I had a dream about my old school; And she was there all pink and gold and glittering. I threw my arms around her legs and came to weeping; And I heard your voice as clear as day, and you told me I should concentrate. It was all so strange and so surreal that a ghost should be so practical._

_Only if for a night..._

_-Florence and the Machine (Only if For a Night)_

. . .

_One day they woke me up, so I could live forever: It's such a shame the same will never happen to you..._

_-GlaDOS (Want You Gone)_

. . .

The air was still and calm while the lights were dim but warm. The Mother Elf was raised high in her chamber as she rested. A beautiful thing she was- a true picture of a woman and something to be envied indeed.

"Mother dear, it's time to wake up." a kind, soft voice said. The Mother Elf stirred, making herself aware of everything around her once more to see who had woken her. The lights in the chamber were warm and bright- reflecting how she felt toward the one that came to visit her.

"Hello." the Mother Elf replied with a soft, loving voice. "I've missed you Father."

Her visitor's face went from smiling to a rather distressed looking frown. The Mother Elf could tell this, and the chamber that encased her reflected this idea.

"Mother Elf, we agreed, please call me X." her visitor told her, his voice cracking a little from a regret held painfully within memory. The Mother Elf was aware of this regret- and started to make a hologram appear in front of her visitor as the face on her main form started to fade. The hologram arranged itself into the form of a twenty-something woman with long pixie cut hair, and dressed in a long wedding-like dress that flowed into and around the ground the hologram stood on. Her visitor only grew more pale upon seeing the hologram form of the Mother Elf.

"Seph..." he started to say, then shook his head in remorse. "Mother Elf, please, go... go back into the mainframe."

"I want to touch you." the Mother Elf's hologram said in a heartbreaking tone. X looked away from her, doing all he could to hold back his tears.

"You can't Mother Elf. You... you know that..."

"Yes I can." the Mother Elf told him as she gently placed her hand on his cheek. Her touch was comparable to static that was only localized in a single area. "You can feel me, yes?"

"But can you feel me?" X asked her, as he put his hand on top of hers. She couldn't, and it made the Mother Elf put her hand down to her side again. Her hologram's face detailed both anger and sorrow. But then the Mother Elf's hologram changed her expression as it came to a conclusion about why he had come to see her.

"You are going to battle." she claimed. "But you do not think the sacrifice will be enough...?"

"I will have you." X said, his voice growing rather cold. "That was why you were built; to help aid me when I finally erase the Maverick virus from our world."

"Is that the only reason?" the Mother Elf mused. The question made X seethe with a mix of rage and sorrow.

"She wants to know if you have found them yet." the Mother Elf then said, changing the subject. X looked up at the Mother Elf's hologram with eyes that revealed yet another sorrow in the poor Reploid's life.

"Are you sure they even exist?" X asked.

"I can _feel_ them growing." the Mother Elf insisted. "I can not find them, but I know they are alive some where. They are so small, so tiny... it's so hard to miss them looking in a standard way. They need you, and they need her. They're so tiny... so scared..."

"I can't find them." X told the Mother Elf's hologram. "They're not here."

"They _are_!"

X took a step back in recoil upon the Mother Elf's insisting.

"You don't believe me." she said as she too took a step back- the extreme emotions she felt made the lights in the chamber darken; Something that she was not normally capable of without being inside her mainframe.

X shook his head, unsure of how to answer her. But the Mother Elf knew of his conflict, because it was something she feared as well.

"If we can not find them, then someone else will." the Mother Elf said, making it sound more like a question than a statement. X did not answer. The Mother Elf's hologram placed her hand on his cheek again and slowly pulled them into a kiss.

"I'll protect you." the Mother Elf said softly as they pulled out from their embrace. X looked at her, horrified but understanding.

"Good bye Mother, tomorrow we will end this war once and for all." X said as he started to leave.

"I'll be waiting." the Mother Elf agreed as her hologram form disappeared and her face dissolved back into the mainframe.

X gave a stiff nod to her before leaving- taking care to shut the door of the chamber behind him carefully. The lights in the Mother Elf's chamber dimmed as the program forced herself to cut any communications she had so she could go into a state of hibernation.

Tomorrow marked the end of the Maverick Wars and usher in an era of peace. But that was not the only thing tomorrow promised.

Tomorrow, X was going to die.

Tomorrow... everything the world knew was about to change...


End file.
